Hornets Playing in OKC Next Year

To the utter surprise of absolutely no one, the NBA announced that the Hornets will play the majority of their games next season in Oklahoma City. Agreement has been reached with the State of Louisiana and the operator of New Orleans Arena to permit the team to play 6 games in New Orleans without forcing the team to commit unconditionally to return to the city in 2007, as the team's lease provides. The team, the NBA and the state are committed to attempting to work out a return for the team for the 2007-08 season. In addition, Commissioner Stern announced that the league would enter into exclusive negotiations to bring the 2008 All Star Game to New Orleans and the league's marketing meeting in January, 2007. The latter is a gathering of about 400 people, including owners and team officials.

It is the league's hope that the repopulation of New Orleans and the corporate presence in the city will return to close to pre-Katrina levels by the beginning of the 2007-08 season. I just returned from a visit to New Orleans and, frankly, I think they are all dreaming. It is very difficult for me to envision that much of the area that was totally devastated by Katrina will ever be rebuilt and repopulated. The current estimates that I have seen project the city's ultimate repopulation to be anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 its former size. That will hardly be the size market needed to support a NBA franchise, particularly one that wasn't drawing all that well before the storm.

I will frankly be very surprised if the Hornets return to New Orleans on a full-time basis ever again. Oklahoma City has welcomed the team with open arms and an arena full of loving fans. It will get another season to prove that this wasn't just a one year wonder. If that support continues, and if New Orleans remains the iffy proposition that it would appear to be, look for the Hornets to take up permanent residence in Oklahoma City.

Racetrack Romance

The marketing geniuses at NASCAR have done it again - this time striking out after the female market which constitutes some 40% of its fan base. The sports governing body has entered into a licensing agreement with Harlequin publishers to bring out a line of NASCAR thermed romance novels. You have to hand it to the stock car guys. They will leave no stone unturned in the search for a marketing tie-in or licensing revenue. They will brand anything and everything and, as a result, they have made NASCAR into one of America's major sports. It is now exceeding hockey in popularity and is on the rise. The deal with Harlequin is just another example of creative and forward thinking by NASCAR that, for all the fun that gets made, is probably the best run professional sport this side of the NFL

Illinois Appeals to NCAA to Keep Chief Illinwek

Earlier this past week, the University of Illinois filed an appeal with the NCAA of that organization's decision concerning the university's use of its Chief Illinwek mascot and the Chief headress logo. The appeal challenges the process used by the NCAA to reach its rules regarding Native American imagery and nicknames, as well as the jurisdiction of the NCAA to impose the rules in the first place. Illinois claims that the NCAA is enfringing on institutional autonomy and the NCAA Executive Committe lacked the power to take the action it did. I'm in the process of reviewing the entirety of the university's appeal and may have more comment on this week once I have finished reviewing it. For those of you who care to read it, the appeal can be found here.

Carnivals, carnivals

This week's Carnival of the Capitalists is now up as is this week's Blawg Review. In case you don't know, a Blawg Review is a carnival of blog posts written by or about law and legal topics and it's nowhere near as boring as that sounds. Go check it out and see for yourself.

Major in NASCAR?

Who knew that NASCAR fans even went to college much less major in the, ahem, sport. It's true, there is no a bona fide college major in NASCAR, well motor sports management is the gussied up term they use over at the fancy college. Believe it or not, it's a first of its kind, too.

So, just what do you take in motor sports management besides learning how to apply all those decals to the sides of cars? Four specific courses: sports marketing, racing management, team management and motorsports fundamentals. There are also three mandatory internships, one in each of three areas - track operations, race teams and support operations. And all this in the womb of a Catholic college located next to a monastery.

Did the MVP Fumble his Contract?

Shaun Alexander and the Seahawks had difficulty reaching an agreement before the season and Alexander elected to play out this season so that he could become a free agent. You would think that the gamble paid off, as he became the league MVP and the face of the first Seahawk ever to make the Super Bowl. However, appearances can be deceiving.

About midway through the season, Seahawk officials decided to offer Alexander the long-term contract he was seeking and began negotiating with him. No agreement has been reached and if no agreement is reached soon, Alexander may possibly regret his decision. The labor situation in the NFL looks increasingly bleak, as there is no movement towards resolution of the collective bargaining agreement expiring after this season or on revenue sharing which must be decided before an agreement can be reached.

In the event no CBA is in place by the end of March, any signing bonus which might be paid to Alexander would have to be spread over 4 years for salary cap purposes, assuming there is a salary cap, which could act as a depressing factor on any offer. Currently, should he reach an agreement while the existing agreement is in place, the signing bonus will be spread over 5 years, a much more attractive proposition to teams. That would leave them freer to offer him closer to his true market value.

An additional factor is Shaun's age. He is 29 and while he is clearly showing no decrease in his skills, many teams are reluctant to sign running backs to long-term contracts at his age. That may be compounded by the unknown financial situation that the league may be facing in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement. It would be in Alexander's best interest, both financial and football, to reach an agreement with Seattle as quickly after the Super Bowl as possible. The Seahawks are clearly interested in keeping him, he has expressed his desire to stay in Seattle and he is at the height of popularity. If the Hawks don't sign him, I don't think the 12th man will forgive them. Get it done Seattle! After winning the Super Bowl, it should be your highest priority.

Regular Season Games to Appear on NFL Network

The other shoe has dropped for NFL television. After a couple of years of denying that it would ever show live regular season games on its NFL Network, the league announced that the late season Thursday-Saturday package of 8 primetime games will be shown on NFL Network starting this fall. This comes after intense negotiations with Comcast fell through. Comcast wanted the package for its OLN cable network, which it is trying to transform into a multisport cable network to rival ESPN.

The NFL has moved to dampen fan displeasure with shifting of games to a cable channel with more limited distribution by announcing that the games will be made available in free, over-the-air television in the participating teams markets. While the NFL Network will not charge cable operators fees for carrying the games, it hopes that the attractiveness of the games will increase the number of systems on which it can be found. That increase, along with the advertising to be sold for the game telecast, it is hoped, will make up for the lack of a rights fee.

This is a long anticipated move by the NFL and one that is not without considerable risk. It now is in direct competition with all of is broadcast partners, albeit not at the same time. It establishes a firm alternative for the next round of broadcast contracts, which won't be up for renewal for six to eight years, as they were all renewed this year. How this will be received in the advertising marketplace is unknown. The only games previously shown live on NFL Network were exhibition games and for those the network picked up the team's local feeds. In the end, if the games bring the channel new viewers who stick around after the games are over as well as new distribution deals, then all will be worthwhile. If they make as much on advertising as they would have made from rights fees being sold to Comcast, well, that would just be a huge bonus.

Houston 1836 joins the Sports Community

Houston's entry in Major League Soccer finally has a name. The team fornerly known as the Earthquakes will now be tagged with a name that echoes of European origin, but unlike Real Salt Lake, actually sounds good and means something locally. The team will be known as Houston 1836 - a reference to the year the city was founded. As you can see from the logo, the team colors will be black, orange and blue. There is a long tradition in European soccer, particularly in Germany of naming teams with dates, usually though referring to the dates the team was founded. I think Houston 1836 did a good job, picking a name that is distinctive yet has soccer roots. The logo features a star and an image of Sam Houston, both iconic images of the City of Houston. It's a good first start for the franchise. They have a competitive team and hopefully a city that will adopt them with open arms.

NCAA Leadership - Diversity Still Lacking

According to a study released today, white men hold 330 of the 357 campus leadership positions at the 119 NCAA Division I-A institutions. The NCAA claims to recognize that there is a problem and within the last year has hired a vice president for diversity inclusion. It has also formed a task force which will issue recommendations within a year to promote diversity within both the coaching and administrative ranks.

Diversity is clearly a worthwhile goal and the NCAA is wise to be looking at ways to promote it within the athletic administration ranks. However, the ranks of presidents and chancellors are a different matter. While diversity is sorely needed there too, it beyond the purview of the NCAA. It is not an athletic matter and the programs that might work in the athletics arena may not be easily translatable to the executive suite. There is no likely one size fits all pill that will magically transform the campuses across the campus. If there were, we wouldn't still be talking about this. It is a slow process of grooming and mentoring those with talent and recognizing those who might have been unfairly passed over. That is as true in the executive suites as it is in the athletic suites.

Is "So What?" a Defense?

The Angels defense appears to come down to a case of: "So what?". The City of Anaheim's entire case rests on the ability of its attorneys to make the case that the lease is subject to more than one reasonable interpretation so that the judge will instruct the jury that it should consider the intent of the parties at the time the lease was executed with respect to the use of Anaheim as a location. If the city is successful in making that case, the city should be successful in convincing the jury of the intent of the parties.

Testimony in the first week of the trial focused on the negotiations between representatives of the Disney Company, the then owner of the Angels, and the city. Representatives of both testified that Disney extracted concessions from the city by promising that the Anaheim name would be prominently featured in team marketing and media across the country. Testimony also indicated that no one involved imagined changing the geographic designation of the team or reserving the right to do so.

Thus, the judge's ultimate jury instructions will be the crucial determining factor in the resolution of this case. Right now, Angels owner Arte Moreno is rolling the dice on $100 millions that intent is irrelevant. It's a big gamble, perhaps the biggest one he has ever made.

Goodbye Mario and Good Luck

Mario Lemieux retired again today from the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team he owns and this time he won't be coming back to play again. No, this time he retired from playing as a result of a heart condition that must be controlled by medication and prevents him from playing at the level at which he believes is necessary. He is also in the process of trying to sell the team so it looks like his over 20 year association with the Pens is nearing an end. Congratulations Mario on your retirement. You have richly earned it. We'll miss you. Stick around long enough to pass on everything you can to young Mr. Crosby. He and the people of Pittsburgh (and/or Portland, Milwaukee, Houston, city to be named later) deserve it.

Does 81 Return Kobe to Hero Status?

I'm sure you saw that Kobe Bryant scored an otherworldly 81 points the other night, thereby becoming the second highest single game scorer in NBA history behind only Wilt Chamberlain's famed 100 points in Hershey, Pa. It was a rather awe inspiring performance, not the least because of the effort it took to heave up 70 something shots. That said, how far did that performance, and Kobe's past month in which he's averaging over 40 points, go towards winning back the love and respect he used to enjoy before the Colorado incident?

One of the most interested and certainly the most delighted observers of the 81 point performance had to be Nike chairman Phil Knight, whose timing could hardly have been better. Nike was just about the only significant company to retain its endorsement contract with Bryant and is debuting a new signature shoe, complete with a national TV commercial, on February 9.

So, has Kobe rebuilt his "brand equity" with the sports public? To a great extent he has, but he will never be able to return to his former high level. His idea that he should remain quiet and let his performance speak for itself has for the most part been effective. His jersey is now the fifth highest selling jersey among NBA players and that was last month before the recent run of truly mind boggling numbers. It will only increase from there. Yet, the stain of Colorado will never truly wash completely away. I agree with this sentiment expressed by Paul Swangard, a sports marketing expert at the University of Oregon:

"...… It's no accident that a company like Nike that wants to target kids with their basketball shoes would be on board, whereas family-consumer brands that are more like McDonald's and Sprite are probably still a little reticent to come back into the fold."

Then, as pointed out in the LA Times article, there is the issue of Kobe's relationship with other players. A GQ magazine survey of athletes listed him in number 5 among athletes most disliked by their peers. That's not too surprising considering the style of play Kobe has engaged in this season and for most of his career. He has always been a selfish player, but this season it has gotten extreme. You don't score 81 points by handing out a lot of assists. Phil Jackson has always had issues with Bryant's inability to be a team player. In fact, he called him uncoachable in his last book. Granted, when Kwame Brown is on the receiving end of your passes, you're much less inclined to pass, but there are other capable Laker players on the court with him besides Brown. It wouldn't hurt Kobe to involve some of them in the offense once in a while.

All in all, as Kobe continues his assault on scoring records, he is continuing to rehabilitate his standing with the fans. The Laker fan base is enthralled with him once again, at least for now. As long as this other-worldly scoring binge continues, fan enchantment will be assured. When it ends, if it ever does, the purple and gold clad faithful will look at the standings and see the Lakers fighting for a playoff berth. However, if they fail to make the playoffs again, all the blame may be laid at Kobe's feet and a great deal of the good will he will have built this season may be lost.

Will Fashion be Soccer's Ultimate Ticket?

For years, soccer has been touted as America's next big sport and for years now the sports prophets have been wrong. No matter that the rest of the world is mad for the game, that the largest minority group in America is now the Latino population who take soccer as seriously as they take religion, no matter that the US national team is climbing into respectability. Soccer is still barely creeping into the national sports consciousness.

What will it take for soccer to grab hold of American sports fans? Some think they may have found a new way to those fans hearts and minds - fashion. Lotto, the major Italian clothing brand which is the leading soccer clothier in Italy, was recently purchased by an American. He launched an ultra high fashion line to be sold in upper end boutiques, attempting to bring the fashionistas to soccer through non-performance clothing.

Addidas has been holding soccer tournaments with teams from hipster fashion companies and shops in New York in an effort to appeal to the same market as the new owner of Lotto. It has branched out into a new league in Chelsea, an area surrounded by fashion trendy boutiques. Soccer as fashion statement brings in an entirely different audience than soccer as sport. Once the trend setters latch onto it, then it begins to hit the fashion magazines and from there it will leap to the celebrity mags and People. When that day comes, middle America will know that soccer is what they are supposed to like because Hollywood likes it and that is when it will have arrived. Well, that's the theory anyway.

A G'day for Hawai'i Football?

Non-conference opponents tend to schedule games with Hawai'i as alternatives to bowl games. It's a great trip for the team, the alums and fans and, before the advent of the 12 game season, gave your team an extra game to help pay the bills run up in that little vacation trip to the islands. So what do the Rainbow Warriors do when they want to schedule a "vacation trip" game? It looks like they are attempting to schedule a game down under. Hawai'i officials are negotiating to play a regular season game in Sydney in 2007. The game would be played in Sydney Stadium, the home of the Australian Rules Football Grand Champions Sydney Swans, if everything can be worked out. No opponents has yet been identified. It will make for one long road trip for some team - the flight from LA to Sydney is a mere 16 hours, non-stop.

Cuba To Play in World Baseball Classic

According to a report on the Washington Post website, The federal government has granted Cuba a license to participate in the World Baseball Classic, thereby averting a possible battle with the International Olympic Committee and the International Baseball Federation. The Federation had said it would withold its sanction of the event if Cuba was barred and would penalize any participating countries. With Cuba's participation assured, the WBC should now go off as planned. Major League Baseball was able to secure the license after Cuban Premier Fidel Castro offered to donate any proceeds from the event to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Angels' Trial Judge Urges Settlement

The judge presiding over the trial of the City of Anaheim's suit against the Angels urged the parties to take advantage of an off day Friday to settle the case. "This case is crying out to be resolved", said Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Polos.

Anaheim might do well to heed the judge's urgings, as he also signaled strongly that he disagreed with a significant portion of the city's case. The city claims that an agreement with Disney, the owner of the team at the time the current lease was signed, committed the team to include Anaheim not just in the team name but in the marketing of the team and the marketing materials. However, the lease grants the team "sole control" or "sole discretion" or "exclusive control" over marketing and merchandising and the judge has indicated that he finds the city's claims to be weak at best.

While that won't kill the city's case entirely, as the city's claims over the team's name will still be alive, it will significantly weaken the city's overall position. That should push the city towards a settlement, if they were smart.

Florida Gulf Coast University Latest to Grab D-I Gold

The lure of the billion dollars showered on the NCAA from CBS for March Madness has proved irresistible to several colleges and universities in the last few years and now one more has decided to try and make the leap to Division I status. The Board of Trustees of Florida Gulf Coast University, a public university with about 7,000 students located in Ft. Myers, voted unanimously to move to Division I if the school can find a conference affiliation. The school is making an unusually fast move to Division I status, considering it was only founded in 1997.

The impetus to move to Division I grew out of a charge by the school's president to the athletic director to find a conference for the school's athletic program, which has been competing in NCAA Division II. In the course of that exploration, the Atlantic Sun Conference, a Division I conference in which several other newly minted Division I members participate, expressed an interest in having FCGU as a member. That was all it took to launch a full-scale school move to Division I. The process will take several years to complete.

As pointed out in this article, however, the Atlantic Sun is Division I in the literal sense. There is a world of difference between the A-Sun and the ACC. The national exposure accorded the winner of the A-Sun may only come about once or twice a season, but that exposure comes at a great cost. D-I athletics at the low major level is far from a break-even proposition. In fact, FCGU expects its budget to double from this year to the first full year in D-I. This year's budget is only $2.9 million and the school has told students to expect $60 more in athletic fees each semester, starting in 2007, which will raise $600,000 each year. That will still leave a gap which will no doubt be filled by playing "guarantee games" against high major opponents. It's a way of life for teams in the A-Sun.

DC United Up for Sale...Again

The sale of the operating rights of DC United has fallen apart and the team is back on the market, according to an announcement from current owner Anschutz Entertainment Group. Although the club's operating rights were sold in a MLS record $25 million deal announced about 6 months ago, AEG and Global Development Group have mutually terminated the deal and AEG has returned all the deposits. In a strange twist, the two groups will continue to work on the development of a soccer stadium for DC United in the mixed use project planned at Poplar Point in Anacostia. Something about this whole deal and relationship seems odd - you just don't see many deals that have money returned and everybody smiling 6 months down the road as if nothing happened. AEG is confident of another buyer, but I'll be surprised if they can get $25 million. It should be interesting to see how this all turns out - let's just hope that a stadium gets built - somewhere in metro DC.

Will the Angels Move if Anaheim Wins the Suit?

Following opening statements to the jury in the lawsuit filed by the City of Anaheim against the Angels, team owner Arte Moreno indicated that a sale of the team would be possible if he were to lose the case. He did not rule out other possible responses either - ranging from dramatically reducing the payroll to selling the team. The city has asked for a ruling restoring the use of the Anaheim name or the paying of hundreds of millions of dollars in damages in the event it is victorious.

In Opening statements on Friday, each party laid out its the chief points in its argument. The Angels counsel told the jury to consider the intent of the parties at the time the lease was negotiated, a crucial point in the Angels argument, which we have discussed before. The Angels counsel intends to present evidence showing that Disney, the owner at the time the lease was negotiated, considered a wide range of names that did not include Anaheim. That testimony will I suspect be the critical turning point of the case. If the City can convince the jury that the deal with Disney always contemplated some variation of Anaheim in the name of the team, then I think the case will be decided in the City's favor. If the Angels have convincing testimony to the contrary, then the team's chances of success greatly improve.

The Saints Come Marching Home Again

The NFL and the Saints have agreed on the return of the Saints to New Orleans for the 2006 season and beyond. The Saints preseason games will likely be played elsewhere as the Superdome renovations will not be completed before mid-September, but both the NFL and Superdome officials expect the Dome to be ready and available for all of the Saints home games. It should be pointed out, however, that Tom Benson, the Saints owner, and state officials still must reach an agreement on the terms of a new agreement.

To throw another dose of realism on this fantasy party thrown by Commissioner Tags, the Dome may be ready, but I don't know that the city will be. Oh sure, the roads may be clear and there may be adequate security in and around the Dome, but there won't be any people there. By September, 2006, I would be shocked if the population of New Orleans has returned to even one-third of its former size. Having just returned from a short visit there, it is clear to me that the city is dealing with day to day survival issues and doesn't have the resources to spend on the auxiliary services associated with the staging of professional football games on a regularly scheduled basis. I don't doubt the psychic value to the city of the return of the Saints, but it is a question of resource allocation.

That said, the practical question in sports business terms is one of market size. Will the new New Orleans market be large enough to support the Saints? Given the current state of the city and surrounding area, including parts of the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf region, I doubt seriously that the area has the population or income to support a professional franchise. A significant portion of the area has suffered from unfathomable personal and business tragedy and loss from which they will not have recovered by this fall, if ever.

I think it is vitally important that the NFL make the symbolic attempt to bring the Saints back. The people of New Orleans deserve that much. However, hold no illusions about the outcome of this experiment. Whatever financial arrangements may be negotiated with the state regarding the use of the Superdome, the reality is that the 2006 season is a tryout and New Orleans is almost destined to fail. Within two to three more seasons, the Saints will be in Los Angeles and the NFL will be able to look the people of New Orleans in the eye and say "we gave you the chance and you just didn't support us", when all along it was a rigged game.

Angels Lawsuit Opens

The trial of the City of Anaheim's lawsuit against the Angels of Southern California begins this week and the preliminary skirmishing has gone Anaheim's way. In the most significant of a series of preliminary rulings,Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Polos ruled that evidence of the intent of the parties in drafting the lease between the team and the city would be admissible. That evidence will be crucial to the city's case, as Anaheim attempts to show that the team has known all along that although the lease language may have been ambiguous, the parties intent was that the team be called the Anaheim Angels. The language in the lease was left "loose" in case the Disney Company, which owned the Angels at the time, desired to change the name to the Mighty Angels of Anaheim, or something similar, as it had done with its NHL team. Testimony by Disney officials about the intent of the parties will be critical and the willingness of Judge Polos to allow it is a great boost to Anaheim's likelihood of success.

Golf Channel Locks Up PGA Rights

The Golf Channel becomes the exclusive cable home for the PGA Tour beginning next year in a 15 year deal announced today. CBS and NBC will remain as the broadcast home of the Tour, with the networks carrying weekend rounds while the Golf Channel will carry the early rounds. Comcast the owner of the Golf Channel also owns OLN, which has begun to morph into an all sports channel and the new contract with the PGA allows for some events to be shifted to OLN. ESPN will no longer carry PGA events, although it will still carry USGA events, such as the US Open. This deal is part of Comcast's strategy of attacking ESPN on the margins, whenever possible.

Rose Bowl Left Overs

The Rose Bowl telecast was the highest rated televised college football game since 1987, with a 21.7 household rating up 59%over last year's "national championship" telecast. Not only was the Rose Bowl up, but in their last year on ABC, each of the other BCS bowls scored higher ratings than the last year comparable time slots, producing a cumulative rating of 55.9 - 27% higher than last year and the highest ever for the BCS era. Fox will have its work cut out for it as it takes over all of the BCS bowls next year except for the Rose Bowl which maintains a separate contract with ABC. ESPN and ESPN2 also experienced increases this year, although significantly smaller.

Texas is a winner not just on the field when it comes to football, as the financial reports filed with the US Department of Education make clear. The Longhorn football program is a dollar juggernaut, the nation's richest and most profitable football program, with revenue of $53.2 million and profit of $38.7 million for the year ending in August, 2005. That profit number is greater than the revenue of all but eight of the other bowl teams this year. It's no wonder the Horns can produce winning programs in most sports. That kind of profit pays for all kind of resources for all sports, not just football.

As I'm sure everyone knows by now, Vince Young has decided to declare for the NFL draft and who can blame him. He is certainly at the height of his marketability not just for purposes of his draft status but for endorsement purposes as well. It will be interesting to see how this may affect the selection status of Matt Leinart. Will Young be taken before Leinart, thereby making Leinart's decision to return to school for another year a decision that ends up costing him millions? Does Leinart keep his status as the number one quarterback on the board and potentially the second pick behind Reggie Bush, where he really hasn't lost anything by coming back? It will be interesting to watch it play out - Tennessee seems to want Young but will Houston take him with the first pick since he is a hometown product? Isn't the post-season fun?

Is the World Baseball Classic in Trouble?

First, Happy New Year to all of you and let me say that it's good to be back. I had a wonderful trip but traveling these days is never easy no matter where you may be going or why you're going there. The crowds, the security and the general airport hassles combine to make any trip more stressful than it needs to be, but I had a wonderful time visiting with family and a very restful few days relaxing in the sun, so I guess that means I'm recharged and ready to face the new year.

Well, I'm recharged. I don't know about facing the new year. While I was gone, it doesn't seem like too much happened other than Vince Young stamping himself as the man who will dominate the Trojans' nightmares for weeks and months to come. My hat is off to him and all of the Longhorns for a well earned national championship. In other bowl news, it looks like reports of the demise of the Big East were a bit premature. Not only was West Virginia impressive in beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and marking itself as an early contender for next year's Fiesta Bowl extra game to be named later, but who knows how well Louisville would have fared against Va. Tech had the referee actually seen the incredibly low class move by Marcus Vick in stomping on Nagurski Award winner Elvis Dumervil in a deliberate attempt to injure him and put him out of the game. Would the Cardinals back-up quarterback outduel the Hokie'? I believe so.

Well, the title of this post relates to the ill-fated World Baseball Classic. It seems that the International Baseball Federation, the world governing body for baseball, has sent Major League Baseball and the governing federation of each of the participating countries a letter saying telling them it will withdraw its sanctioning of the event if Cuba is not allowed to participate. MLB has asked the Bush Administration to reconsider its decision to bar Cuban participation in the event; a decision which has drawn criticism and threats of repercussions and retaliations from the International Olympic Committee and other sporting organizations around the globe. If a way is not found to allow Cuba to participate, it will be a very long time before the Olympics are held in the US again.